Sighting in Limoux, July 23, 2011

At about 11:30 pm, several people were standing on the terrace of their home, which overlooks the town, when red balls began to appear in the sky. They came one after another, a few minutes apart. Seven balls in all drifted slowly by beneath the clouds, and no sound was heard. No other witness account of the phenomenon was collected.

GEIPAN classified the case as B, probably identified: the description matched Thai lanterns very well. The timing, late on a Saturday evening, supported this. The wind was blowing from west to east, which could carry lanterns released near the town toward the observers. The witness noted that the clouds were coming from the east, but this does not contradict the explanation: if they were high-altitude clouds, they could move in a different direction from the wind at ground level.